Week 8 and 9 of my internship by Elizabeth Davenport

I say this every week, but how is it week 8 already? While I haven’t been quick enough to squeeze a vlog in this week, I have been preoccupied with several more interesting tasks!

Building on the project we were assigned last week, I have been getting creative and experimenting with new animation and video software, getting a feel for what’s on the market. Following last week’s report on the best options available, I have chosen GoAnimate.com to create a short promotional video for our Magnificent Marketing course. I love the site’s design and the ease of the overall process- ideal for a beginner like myself. I’m very happy with how mine has turned out and am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s creations at the team meeting in just a few days!

I have also been working on creating a range of promotional content for Purpol’s bid writing expertise. Up until now, I’ve been very focused on the marketing aspect of the company so it’s been great to explore it a little further, and am again looking forward to feeding back with everyone next week.

Another project I’ve been tasked with was something very different indeed. On behalf of a new client, I’ve been doing some research into boiler maintenance packages supplied by companies on both a national and local (Wiltshire) scale, noting the features, supplies and customer service they provide. Although a small project, it’s been great to explore something completely different and develop my research skills along the way.

On a personal note, I didn’t manage to film a vlog this week but I did compile a physical portfolio of the work I’ve done at Purpol so far. As someone who appreciates the tactility of having things printed, as opposed to keeping everything online, it’s been really nice to see all my efforts laid out in a nicely organised folder, and to reflect back on everything I’ve learnt from Denise and my time at Purpol.

Week 9 at Purpol Marketing

What an exciting week it’s been here at Purpol. It’s been an action-packed week with several real-time projects in the mix and exciting announcements.

Firstly, Purpol Marketing has been featured in the Small Business top 100 list, and are being featured first no less! The nationwide campaign celebrates the UK’s network of small businesses and publicises one each day for 100 days leading up to Small Business Saturday on December 2nd. So it’s very much an honor to be their first feature!

The second announcement is that we have been shortlisted for the Bath Business Awards to be revealed at the end of September. I am very proud to say that I wrote these initial entries so fingers crossed they carry us through to the next stage! All the wonderful news from this week has made me especially grateful to have spent my summer working alongside such a great team for a company that truly champions what it means to be a small business, proving that you don’t have to be big to make a big impact.

As we were the first up to celebrate our #SmallBiz100 feature, we only had a few days to brainstorm how we would interact with our audience and create excitement, whilst also encouraging people to shop local, which is the premise of the nationwide campaign. We used our team meeting in Chippenham on Tuesday to gather ideas, coming up with some fantastic promotional offers. Via our social media channels, we are offering the chance to win a free, 1 hour Skype consultation to discuss anything marketing related- all you have to do is follow us and share the post on either our Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter pages and, for the bank holiday weekend only, we offered an incredible 50% off our Magnificent Marketing course, which has lead to some great results and engagement.

So Friday itself was very much spent creating social media ‘noise’ in order to draw attention to both Purpol’s accomplishment and our celebratory offers. I mainly used LinkedIn and Twitter to do this, as the two sites work very differently from one another and have a very different user demographic. I found searching the hashtag #SmallBiz100 helpful as it allowed me to see what others were saying and how they were interacting with Purpol. It’s also great to see everyone congratulating one another. We’ve had some great feedback and engagement from our feature day, which demonstrates how inspiring such initiatives as Small Business Saturday can be for SME’s across the UK.

While our feature day may be over, we have decided to continue the introductory version of our Magnificent Marketing course for the full 100 days- completely FREE if you sign up before Dec 2nd, to further the excitement and achievement of securing a top spot!

The rest of the week was spent beginning a new whitepaper regarding direct marketing and how technology will drive its future. I have also spent time reflecting on the productivity of our team meeting, through which I always learn so much. I have started to develop mine and Robbie’s boiler maintenance research for our new client and have passed on my short animation and promotional campaign pieces, so look out for those in the upcoming weeks!

We are delighted to be members of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM), Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Inspire and Business West Chambers of Commerce, and Enterprise Nation.

We are delighted to support Business against Poverty as an Ethical Business Member.